Suicide is main killer of police officers

The suicides of two police officers within a day of each other earlier this week highlight the extreme pressures law enforcement officials face and the need for programs to support them.

The first was Gregory Jasinskas, a 40-year-old state trooper found dead Monday in a hotel in Devens from self-inflicted wounds. The other, 24-year-old Leominster Police Officer Christopher L. Asmar, was found dead in his home Tuesday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Jasinskas was the subject of a criminal investigation. His gun and other equipment had been confiscated and he had been relieved of duty.

State police had opened an investigation into a serious roll-over accident involving Officer Asmar, who had been on the job only a year. The crash occurred early Sunday.

David W. O'Laughlin, director of training at the Municipal Police Institute — a training arm of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association — offers specialized training to law enforcement officials in suicide prevention.

"What you see when an officer gets the idea to commit suicide is that he has the means attached to his gun belt," he said. "The average person has to come up with a plan, but an officer has the opportunity to act on that impulse right away."

In the past few years, officer suicides have risen, he said, and suicides are responsible for more officer deaths than any other cause.

"Officers die from their own hand more than any other method," he said. "There is a suicide just over every two days."

"It is some officers' belief that they are bigger, stronger and tougher, and that they don't have weaknesses, including suicide," Mr. O'Laughlin said. "That is a direct contradiction when we are losing an officer every 54 hours in the U.S. to suicide."

Post traumatic stress disorder exacerbates the problem, he said, with a higher percentage of officers who served in the military committing suicide.

Though it is unknown if Jasinskas was suffering from PTSD, Mr. O'Laughlin said, he was a veteran who served three tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"With PTSD, officers returning from combat and going to police work, it weakens their resolve not to commit suicide," he said. "From the very beginning during academy training, they believe they are tougher than most and see domestic violence, auto accidents, see people injured — they have a bank of those memories. Eventually these things can overwhelm an officer."

He said he feels officers should be required to get mental health checkups every year.

Often officers who are suffering from depression or anxiety are apprehensive about seeking help because they feel their colleagues will lose trust in them, he said, because they are worried they may not be able to back them up or that they are "crazy" or weak.

"Fifty percent of Americans suffer from some sort of depression or anxiety, and no one criticizes them if they go for counseling and get help," he said. "Officers get a ton of training on how to protect citizens and provide help to those people, but we don't do much of it to ourselves, yet we are more at risk than anyone else for suicides and the rates shows it."

There is also the perception an officer will not progress in his or her career if there is a history of mental illness, he said.

"If they seek help, they feel like they are going to get held back or not put in a position of trust," he said. "In reality, would a chief put him on the SWAT team or special weapons team? No. That is why they feel if they reveal any issues, they will not move ahead. That is a strong deterrent for going for help."

He said the perception is changing. The last several years, chiefs are more on board with supporting officers looking for mental health solutions.

Leominster Police Chief Robert Healey said the threshold is low for him to send an officer for a mental evaluation if there are indicators they need help.

Officer Asmar's suicide was the second suicide in Leominster's department in three years. Around three years ago, Officer Matthew Bourque, who served on the force six years, committed suicide, he said. Chief Healey was a captain at the time.

"We see death and destruction all day, but not within our ranks," he said. "Officer Asmar was a new officer with a bright future. He called me sir every day. He was a breath of fresh air — a bright, energetic guy who was always positive. His death was a shock to us."

Police officers are held to higher standards than other people, the chief said, and that can create stress.

"If you do something wrong, it is magnified," he said. "You don't always get a second chance, even though they go through their jobs giving second chances. They are up against double standards when things go wrong."

Leominster Detective Patrick J. Aubuchon, who has served on the department 25 years, has directed a peer support team for 20 years that focuses on suicide prevention.

Officer Asmar's suicide was totally unexpected, he said, and there were no indicators he was having any mental health problems.

Officers deal with traumatic incidents daily and are constantly concerned with doing things right, he said.

"Police are held to high standards professionally and personally," he said. "We're trained to be perfectionists. A lot of people who are officers wanted to be one for a long time. When you and the public hold yourself to a higher standard, when things go wrong, they go wrong to the extreme."

Officers fear getting disciplined or losing their job, he said.

"Our whole career, we have to do things the right way," he said. "If we lose cases in court or do bad investigations, we're held accountable if they are found not guilty when it is a mistake we made. When something happens in your career and personal life, you take it to the extreme because you not only let yourself down. You let others around you down — fellow officers, your family."

Detective Aubuchon said it is important for officers to have outlets outside the job and to go home and not be a police officer.

"Some don't like going out in public because they feel they are always watched," he said. "You have to be a really disciplined person to live a normal life. The last thing you want to do is treat your friends and family like a suspect or someone you meet on the street. That is part of the stress of the job. You have to educate yourself on what the job can do to you and how to deal with it."

Officers deal with the "high-end" stress of responding to child fatalities, peer suicides and mass casualties — not the changing-a-tire-and-late-for-work type of stress, he said.

"We are no different than anybody else. We just deal with different things that most people don't have to," he said. "We have to have normal reactions to abnormal events. A lot of things officers are feeling may feel abnormal, but it is normal to have those feelings when you're dealing with an abnormal part of society. This isn't a TV show or a movie. It is real life without commercials."

David Procopio, spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police, said Trooper Jasinskas' suicide Monday was a tragedy.

"Regardless of the fact that he was under investigation, it was a tragic outcome, and we are heartbroken for his family," Mr. Procopio said.

He said there are supports in place for troopers experiencing difficulties.

"We believe the department has a responsibility to ensure the safety of our employees and contribute to their psychological and physical well-being," he said.

State Police have an Employee Assistance Unit consisting of six troopers with specialized training and experience, he said, that offers peer counseling, professional referrals and professional assistance to department members and their families. The EAU is available to all department employees and family members 24 hours a day, he said, and also provides debriefings to department members involved in critical incidents.

"They will, for instance, speak to troopers involved in the location of the department member who committed suicide this week," he said.

An EAU member was also on scene about a month ago when the State Police dive team was searching the Connecticut River for a 5-year-old girl who drowned after falling off a family member's dock in South Hadley, he said, to be available to speak to divers who recovered the body who wished to talk about it. "They offer a compassionate, understanding and experienced ear, and sometimes that is enough, to let someone talk about the emotions he or she is feeling," he said. "Other times, they will listen and then make appropriate professional referrals for further assistance."

In addition to working with employees in a confidential setting, they also present training to recruit classes and provide specialized training upon request, he said.

Moreover, the EAU's work with individual members and their families is strictly confidential, unless failure to disclose information could cause "a clear and present danger" to the safety of a person or the general public.

Additionally, supervisors are required to remain alert for signs of unhealthy stress in troopers under their command, particularly after a traumatic incident, he said.

"Supervisors are aware that reactions to stress may appear immediately after an incident, but also that reactions may not materialize for hours, days or even weeks after a high-stress incident," he added. "Supervisors are required to notify the EAU when they observe unhealthy stress in an employee."